Scrap Tire Exports Surge 270% as U.S. ELT Markets Contract
Scrap Tire Recycling
The U.S. scrap tire industry is exporting far more end-of-life tires than it recycles at home, and that shift is creating a clear opening for onshore tire pyrolysis capacity.
The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) published its biennial scrap tire report on 27 October 2026. The headline number is that the national tire recovery rate held at 79 percent, but that figure masks a deeper change in where the tires actually go.
Exports Rise 270 Percent
Scrap tire exports surged 270 percent over the reporting period, even as a majority of domestic end-use markets lost ground. The 79 percent recovery rate was held in place by sending tires overseas rather than by growing home-grown markets for the material.
That matters because an exported tire is a lost feedstock. Every end-of-life tire shipped abroad is one that could instead have been converted onshore into recovered carbon black, pyrolysis oil and recovered steel.
Stockpiles Shrink Six Million Units
The report also shows genuine progress on legacy stockpiles. The U.S. stockpiled six million fewer tires last year than in 2023, with Colorado leading the state-by-state cleanup effort. Clearing the past is the good news; the risk is that without stronger domestic end markets the tires simply flow into export channels.
Domestic applications are contracting across the board, which is exactly the condition that makes a new generation of onshore thermal conversion capacity a commercial necessity rather than a sustainability talking point.
Turn America’s Scrap Tires Into Bankable Output
When domestic end markets retreat while feedstock is abundant, the answer is capacity that keeps the value onshore. Klean Industries delivers tire pyrolysis facilities with KBR on a performance-guaranteed turnkey basis, so recovered carbon black, pyrolysis oil and steel output are contracted outcomes rather than pilot-scale hopes.
Proof matters here. Our references include commercial-scale tire pyrolysis and recovered carbon black facilities in operation, among them the commercial recovered carbon black plant in Poland, where the guarantees on continuous running and consistent product quality come from.
You can license the technology and run the asset yourself, or have KBR build it turnkey and hand over a proven plant. A feasibility study on your specific feedstock and offtake is the right first step either way.
Contact Klean Industries » GO.
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